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Park and Pavement 



GEO. HANSEN. 



Part I. 



What is a Kindergarten ? 




WHAT IS A KINDERGARTEN?! 



The playground of the child ; | 

The home of the mother; ^ 

The battlefield of inan ; | 

The anchor'ground of patriotism, ^ 



What is a Kindergarten? 



GEO. HANSEN, 

landscape 
architect 

Berkeley, California 



D. P. Elder and Morgan Shepard, 

SAN FRANCISCO, 1891. 



LdUJS 
.H3 



THE LIBRARV OF 

CONGRESS, 
Two Cot^its RtceivED 

JUN. 22 1901 

Copyright enthy 

CLASSe^ XXc N». 

COPY B. 



COPYRIGHTED, 1901 
WASHINGTON, D. C. AND STATIONERS' HALL, LONDON 



GEO. HANSEN 



L0UI8 ROESCH CO. , PRINTERS, 8.F 



" Close the lid of the trunk and strap the satchels. Let 
us turn the back to the city and run for the country where 
dear grandfather expects his flock for the holidays !" 

The last railroad station is behind us, and, through fields of 
waving grain whence larks rise to the clouds to praise the 
glorious summer, the way leads to the village where grand- 
father reigns over the diocese of Jeinsen and its tributary 
ecclesiastics. 

Here is my kindergarten. Acres upon acres, with houses 
and barns, with a walnut tree overshading the home of dozens 
of rooms, with wasps in knot-holes, with meadows on slopes to 
willowy brook, with cows and horses, with chickens and hay- 
stacks, and, be sure to note such, the old family coach in the 
shed. 

And here is my kindergartner. 

Behold the venerable figure as it passes along the lanes 
greeted with bow and lift of cap by old and young alike. 
His office, with piles of papers with foreign stamps, and with 
instruments of all descriptions, was a veritable museum to 
us. It never needed a bell to call us to the daily lessons. 
We were there upon the minute to listen, now to a talk on 
che wonders of the waterdrop, then to the descriptions of 



barbaric tribes in far away Isles. Oh, let me dwell upon 
that important day when I received my first lesson in graft- 
ing trees ! I think of him now as a saint as he knelt on his 
crutched cane and helped me splice the scion and the stock. 
I trust the day may come when I may pilgrim with our son 
to that spot, as I do now in fond imagination ! 

As I listen to the happy prattle of the child at my knees, 
and, looking into its eyes see the same brightness and color 
as the eyes of my kindergartner, why should I believe that 
the simple sandstone monument near the bleak commons of 
far-away Herzberg-am-Harz marks the spot where all 
that 1 embraced of him rests for ever? And my kindergar- 
ten, do I not see it now — this very minute ! I walk 
up to the portal and find him seated on the green 
garden-bench as of old. The large rosebed spreads out 
before him, with the Kaiser von Marocco, the Duke of Edin- 
burgh, the Marechal Niel, the Souvenir de la Malmaison, all 
those sturdy old-timers which we budded to the twigs of the 
standards. There he sits, the wide screening cap drawn 
over his face to protect the eyes from the glaring sun. And 
the thoughts which go through his mind as he sits there on 
the evening of his life? Oh, reader mine, I have looked into 
his eyes so many times that I trust — at last — I have caught 
these threads of thoughts and woven them in new ply and 
new woofs. Here they are, covered by the lid which reads: 

What is a kindergarten? 

4 



CONTKNIS. 

INTRODUCTION. 

THE CHILDREN'S GARDEN. 

Companionship of plant and man. 

Sidewalk Trees. 

Fruit-bearing Shrubs. 

Flowering Shrubs. 

Vines and Climber.s. 

Berries. 

Perennial Border. 

Bulbous Plants. 

The Toy Garden. 

The Vegetable Garden. 

Various Plants. 

The Lawn. 

Our Zoological Park. 

Care of Plants and Grounds. 

DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 

Kindergarten on a twenty-five foot lot. 
Kindergarten on a fifty foot lot. 
Kindergarten on a one hundred foot lot. 
Planting of a Kindergarten on a fifty foot lot. 
Planting of a Kindergarten on a one hundred foot lot. 

APPENDIX. 

Hips from a wayside Brier. 



INTRODUCTION. 



A kindergarten — a children's garden. We have accepted 
the term for our language, but have not absorbed its fullest 
meaning. With this I do not say that Frcebel, the most 
fundamental of all reformers, understood a kindergarten to 
consist of walks and lawn and plants with happy children as 
the fortunate possessors. I mean more. The \vriter of these 
paragraphs, who never attended an established kindergarten 
and yet enjoyed the kindergarten in its most unrestricted 
meaning, who developed in a profession on just such lines as 
Froebel laid down, feels it his duty to build upon and build 
out Froebel's lines with the aid of his professionalism. I 
have in mind a kindergarten which has added to all of 
Froebel's methods the fullest complement which nature can 
place within a child's reach and comprehension. 

This land of vast dimensions must do more than merely 
accept Frcebel's teachings. We must improve upon them, 
and bestow upon them that liberality which is ours, as soon 
as an occasion appeals to us. The time is drawing close 
when the kindergartens will be made part of our free 
school system. How will we be prepared for such 
change? Shall we move from the empty stores and vacant 
flats, now set aside for our children, to the basements of the 
school buildings? Ijct us give the matter our most earnest 
study, and let us realize that it is easier to direct the run of 
a brooklet than to change the volume of a deeply bedded 
river. The broad acres of our United States are vet com- 



paratively undivided, and, except where the most expensive 
real estate demands business buildings to tower skyward, 
none are too costly to furnish the ground upon which our 
kindergartens shall be founded. Let us insist at the very 
outset of our movement upoji the proper reservation, and 
nothing will prevent us from securing for our children what, 
through them, will redound to far more benefit to the land 
than the most gorgeous improvement we could devise. 

The kindergarten as I design it is not an ideal. It is a 
composition of everyday facts, the attainment of which is a 
matter of principle, not of effort. One hundred foot frontage 
of a lot of average depth is the proper size for our grounds, 
whether such be a part of some school grounds or laid out 
by itself. Every other lot of less acreage is a makeshift. Our 
improvement must impress as a home, and as such, requires 
neither a board fence nor a hedge as a barrier. The house 
should be of rural design, perhaps with wide eaves and 
shingled, or of plaster work. The ground floor should be taken 
up by the schoolrooms, and the upper story, or half story, 
by the living rooms of the kindergartner. Whoever is in 
charge of the premises has to make her home in them. Do 
not attempt to impress a child with the sanctity of home in 
spaces which chill from lack of a cheering voice. I speak 
of a woman when referring to the kindergartner. C'hildren 
of the age of four to six years are to be associated here, and 
at that time they need a woman as caretaker. It needs her 
endless patience, her ever ready care to rear the child. On a 
one-hundred foot lot three class rooms can find accommodation 
and playgrounds. Aside from accustomed use our grounds 

10 



can and should serve as day nursery for the neighborhood. 
There may not be a woman near who is forced to work out 
and leave, during such time, the care of her children to 
others, but many a mother would gladly embrace the op- 
portunity to leave her little ones in such surroundings when 
duty calls her from home. The kindergartner requires 
assistance, and her associates, as they are trained for the 
work, are the proper ones to attend such cases during non- 
school hours. 

I have nothing to suggest towards the teachings in the 
schoolroom. My purpose is to exemplify how our task of 
forming the child's mind can be rendered easier and more 
correct, I want to do such through the agency of outdoor 
exercise amongst plants and flowers, and I give a list of those 
which are the most important, mentioning also some which 
are to be avoided. The connection between plant-life and 
human-life is fully as intimate as people demonstrate every 
day. It is for a good reason that at the birthday of friends 
we express our wishes through flowers. We know that 
our sympathy for the bedridden is more tenderly worded 
through the language of blossoms. And when the end 
has come to those dear to us, we bedeck them with the 
choicest flowers we are able to procure from garden and field. 
We compare a man to an oak, a woman to a birch, a girl to 
a lily, a boy to a weed. This surely has foundation in reason. 
Yet, the teacher shall not attempt to explain any of 
the habits of those plants with which I insist the child 
should be surrounded. Some of those habits are not yet 
understood; others are not comprehensible for a child; 

11 



and those which are evident in their natural simplicity 
will reveal themselves to the child in due season. Re- 
member, every child in your charge is an Edison, every tot 
a Columbus, and the idealizing disposition of all of them sees 
a Garden of Eden in a vacant lot. I insist upon mere 
association of plants and children. Even if the habits of 
the former are apparently overlooked by those less responsive 
to the development of bough and leaf, the fact of having 
been in such association will make itself manifest in after- 
years. Through the company of plants v/e add an element 
of attraction, and a stimulus for which nothing else 
can be substituted. We should carefully discriminate in 
what is to surround our children at this age. If we are 
successful in our attempts, we will be able to do away with 
the multitude of palatial reform schools and improvement 
leagues of all descript and nondescript. If a community 
would establish sufficient kindergartens of such type, it 
would require only one generation to remodel the morals of 
its population. We mold and reform in every direction, and 
maintain the most complicated machinery for the application 
of so-called justice ; whereas, the mere investment in simple 
kindergartens would render unnecessary the endless ramifica- 
tions of those institutions. The existence of jails and asylums 
is no credit to a nation. It is, in the first place, admission 
of the fact that the early life of its people has been neglected. 
Give me a nation whose youth is reared in kindergartens 
like mine, and a prophetic voice exclaims : "To forbid a 
citizen to re-enter his home for a period of years will be the 
worst punishraent you could inflict upon a wrong-doer," 

n 



THE 

CHILDREN'S GARDEN. 



COMPANIONSHIP OF PLANT AND MAN. 



The division of the grounds is only a part of the designing 
of the landscape architect. Through it we are supposed to 
be placed in full possession of and communication with the 
attractions which the setting is to furnish. Yet, while the 
partition of the area admits of ready correction, as the foot 
will make the trail where its passage is justified, the setting, 
while finished, undergoes a constant development. The 
forms as molded are the embryo, as it were, and every 
season's growth brings out more clearly either the mistakes 
or the advantages of the artist's design. It is seldom that 
we see the value of the setting placed above and beyond the 
importance of the division, and for that very reason I take 
the pains to positively state that the value of my booklet is 
mainly in this part of the designing. 

The principle upon which I found my doctrin is consistency 
of association. I am forbidden to apply such throughout 
the design of a kindergarten, because I have to select mainly 
with the idea of associating the child with the plants, not 
plants with plants and children. But even in this regard I 
have assumed responsibility, the justification of which the 
child will prove, if the grown man will remain incredulous. 
As soon as we set out a plant, we make it a prisoner. It 

15 



may die of want of proper condition, as it is called, of home- 
sickness, as I dare put it. Remember, it is firmly bedded 
where men placed it, not in a position of its own choosmg. 
Has it ever struck you why so many annuals have to be sown 
and re-sown only to disappear as the new season opens? 
You may offer dozens of reasons, all of which may prove 
correct. But let me add one, the importance of which has not 
appealed to everybody : the seed was sown where it could 
not naturalize. I will illustrate by a few instances why 
plant-life offers such attraction to the scientist and such 
infatuation to the poet. 

The common dandelion has traced civilization wherever 
it penetrated unexplored regions. We call it a weed, scientists 
term it a cosmopolitan and permit it to upset all the rules of 
plant geography. May I put the question : why does this 
dandelion follow the step of man wherever he goes? 

Along the path from my home to the village grow tufts 
and tufts of a plant very similar to dandelion (Agoseris). 
I leave my home at an hour when the sun has risen just above 
the tops of the pines and gum-trees overshadowing the path. 
Why is it these dandelions all look into my face at this morn- 
ing hour? Is it because I stand with the rise of the sun and 
they have turned their golden faces to greet its glory? But 
more than that. Why is it that on cloudy days this sea of 
faces is gone, as it were, and I have to walk amongst them 
to be able to greet them? 

Let' me select another everyday companion of ours for 
illustration. Along the roadsides grows a flattened weed 
of unpretending appearance. It belongs to the buckwheat 



family (Polygonum aviculare) and is grayish-green as much 
in stem as in leaf. It bears insignificant blooms of whitish- 
pink close to the prostate stem. This plant becomes the 
more plentiful the more you approach human habitation and 
is in its glory if trampled under foot. More than that even, 
it will do best when in a dusty road where driven over, day 
after day, by wagon wheels. I recollect stopping over, the 
eve before I reached the Calaveras Grove of Big Trees in 
the Sierra Nevada range, in an offing along the roadside at 
an elevation of about 4,500 feet. Even if I had not found 
scantlings and pieces of boards along the gulch and tumbled 
down cabins under the shelter of trees, the lawn of this 
Polygonum weed, as it spread closely to the ground all over 
the knoll, would have told me that man had a place of abode 
at this spot. Further investigation did show even more. 
Here where people had left the range and no more teams 
traveled and no foot pressed down the sod, the plants were 
smaller and half erect. And as it is there, so it is near your 
front door. The further your Polygonum weed is removed from 
the roadside, the more erect it becomes, even if in a place 
entirely free from other herbs. And wherever you trace 
this weed in other positions where the surroundings may 
appear to be in contradiction to what I explain, show patience 
and await development. Remember, that unlike seasons pro- 
duce varying results and that it is far different for a plant, 
especially a weed, to grow in a place, than to be naturalized in 
that particular spot. 

These examples have presented relations of plants to 
human kind. I beg leave to illustrate an instance where 



insect-life is so intimately connected v/ith plant-life that its 
mere mentioning will justify the stress I layj'upon association. 
Over the swamps of Madagascar, attached to trees,l;j'dangle 
the air-roots of a gigantic orchid, Angrsacum sesquipedale. 
Sideways to the flattened growth of stem and leaf stand the 
spikes adorned with large shining stars of ebony flowers. 
The odor of this bloom is noticeable in day-time and strong 
when night sets in. Truly, nothing could prove plainer that 
there is a relationship between the odor and the insect which 
is about in those regions at eventide only. 

But let us follow this plant and insect. The monstrous 
nightmoth has to rest upon the labellum of the starry flower 
to unroll its long proboscis and reach down to the store of 
nectar accumulated for its attraction in a spur of ten inches 
and more. The sexual organs of this orchid are so constructed 
that only cross-fertilization will satisfy its requirements. 
Many orchids assume a rigidity after such act has been per- 
formed, others wilt and hang lifeless over the vital organs. 
This orchid belongs to the former class, and to further pro- 
tect the spot where its life has reached the summit of devel- 
opment, it folds the side wings over that place for protection 
against further disturbances from unsought visitors. 

I ofter no explanation for this fact, nor have I answered 
any of the previously put questions. I mention them to 
prove the existence of relationship far deeper founded than 
the general observer ever dreams of. I recite them as an 
introduction to my list of plants for the kindergarten and I 
will not attempt more than to suggest points of interest for 
the child in the plants selected. 



Later on I give two illustrations how these kindergartens 
could be planted, mention plants which are suitable, and 
point out some which should be avoided. For any one 
to plant promiscuously any or all of the species mentioned 
in any kindergarten is as absurd as to take a certain number 
of any group and try to associate them with a fraction of 
the lists of another. Every single spot planted requires a 
setting of its own, dependent upon surroundings, upon ex- 
posure, upon local climate, upon the fancy of the designer, 
and is the work of a professional. My views are expressed 
in relation to temperate climes, and, while I indicate a few 
kinds which will prove too tender for some localities, there 
are plenty to select from for any requirement. 



SIDEWALK TREES. 

What the frame is to a picture, the sidewalk tree is to a 
house; both are needed. The Elm should be avoided. Its 
flov/ers count for little and its dimensions forbid setting on 
a small thoroughfare. The Horse-chestnut is excellent for 
wide avenues but will not succeed in warm climates where 
smaller growing Buckeyes should take their place. Maples 
are good and offer additional attraction in their seeds which 
are ever welcome to the varied purposes the child will find 
for them in its play. But the streets should be at least 
eighty feet wide for a Maple. Tuliptrees are acceptable in 
warm climates ; in cooler ones they outgrow their space. 
Mulberries are good everywhere, in dry positions as well as 

19 



in moist. So is the Birch, and very attractive to the child and 
deeply impressive through its graceful character. Its 
pendulous limbs suggest lightness and airiness. The 
bark offers many interesting ideas, and a little scribbling 
on its paper surface is treasured highly. The Aspen, full- 
brother to the Birch, is decidedly to be avoided. It is irritat- 
ing to grown persons, and for a child to be forced to see it, 
and ever again see it, is absolutely criminal. Poplars are 
satisfied to stand in dry or wet soil, and while their dimen- 
sions are needful of large space, they will do well for a long 
time in even narrow streets, as they permit of great abuse. 
But they should be as far as possible from plantations, partly 
on account of the suckers which they send out, partly be- 
cause they harbor a large number of insect pests. Alders 
will do best in wet spots, but are satisfactory also in dry 
places. Their many charms consist in the catkins, ear- 
liest of any in the season, and the burrs later. Their rigid 
growth is an objection of little weight. All Locusts are 
good, the pink one especially offers a beautiful green and 
an attractive blossom. The commonest will do well in the 
most disadvantageous positions. The Hawthorns are much 
to be preferred, and, with a little judicious thinning, will 
never assume the unclean appearance which they have in 
warm climates. Their flowers are rich hunting grounds for 
bees, and their berries are delightful to every child. The 
Mountain Ash, as well as the Oak-leaved Ash, are trees which 
we neglect too much altogether. It is surprising how well 
this tree of northern climes will do in warm zones. Its reg- 
ular crop of bright berries is attractive to old and young 

2Q 



alike. The Maidenhair Tree (Gingko) is proper yet rather too 
foreign for a child. Larch and Bald Cypress (Taxodium) 
will do in some exceptional cases. Acacias should be avoided 
inside the grounds on account of the rapid growth and tlie 
dimensions which they assume. They are good sidewalk 
trees in warm regions, their odor adding to the attractive- 
ness of their graceful flowers. 

The limited space of our grounds forbids the setting out 
of trees. We must resort to large shrubs for the elevated 
lines. Amongst them are the 

FRUIT- BEARING SHRUBS. 

of first importance, the more so, as all of them also display 
attractive blossoms. 

A Crab-apple is a child's delight. In bloom and dov;ny 
foliage before any other variety, it is richly hung with 
blossom and develops a sure crop of fruit. Of the many 
varieties those with painted cheeks are preferable. Com- 
pare the amount of pleasure to be derived from such a 
tree with the limited charms of a large fruited apple, 
like the Alexander, or the massivsness of a Pound Pear. 
The boys are sure to fight over the yet green fruit of the 
Alexander, whereas the Crab furnishes fruit for the entire 
school. Plums are also welcome ; the Japanese varieties 
always produce fruit, which is acceptable and early as well, 
as are also some varieties of Cherry, Plum and Gages. The 
Damson is a bush which should not be missed. Its astringent 
fruit is a boy's delight, and the amount of temptation to im- 



pose upon the palate of fellow playmates or acquaintances 
is great and permissible. Quinces are very good. Their 
peculiar foliage, their very large bloom and, later, the fruit 
with its unsurpassable odor are attractive in every phase of 
development. To store away the fruit for months and let 
the children enjoy its perfume at Christmas is much appre- 
ciated by them. I refer also to Flowering Quinces. The 
many varieties of vari-colored blossom are charming to a 
child. This is the more conspicuous as the blossom is de- 
veloped so very early in the season. If space should forbid 
the free planting of such a shrub, it can be trained against a 
v/all and spread fan-shaped. As our kindergartens are apt 
to be caged in amongst higher buildings, this mode of train- 
ing espalier should be adopted for many shrubs. Every one 
thus trained will be far more attractive in its way than 
massive vines which render a place chilly and require more 
attention. The Medlar is also a good tree, but of secondary 
importance only. The Persimmon is excellent. It reminds one 
of an Orange and will impress a child for the rest of its life 
through the strange development of foliage and fruit, a fruit 
as odd as it is glorious in appearance. The Hazelbush 
should be in every yard, and, while the green f oliaged kinds 
of any Filbert Nut are pleasing, the purple variety is better, 
as it introduces a shade of coloring which no other shrub 
in our selection possesses. What child would not delight 
in the slender catkins, little streamers hanging from the 
branches, sending forth their showers of pollen dust in 
due time ? And then the nut hidden in its cap of frills 
and tucks ! How much more alluring than the naked nut 

22 



from the grocer's sack are these nuts, especially when dots 
for eyes and mouth are added and a whole little face tucked 
within this natural bonnet. 

Of bushes of less dimensions than those enumerated which 
bear also attractive fruit-stands, I mention the following. 
Brier Roses are pleasing through their bloom, their bright 
colored hips and also through their delightful odor. Rosa 
pomifera should be resurrected from its forgottenness and 
be set out oftener even than the Japanese Rosa rugosa. 
Purple Fringe, or Smoke Tree, is attractive through its 
strangeness in foliage as well as in fruit-stand, yet a child 
will always be unconsciously impressed as if those were a 
foreign element in its garden. Spindle-tree might well be 
set out, though of secondary importance. Snowberries are 
very acceptable, the more so as they fill in spaces and corners, 
shady and forbidding, where hardly any other shrub will 
succeed. 

In the golden leaved Elder we have the best opportunity 
of introducing a color of foliage which is permissible with 
this variety. It forms a bright object and, aside from the 
fruit of the bush, the pith of the boughs offers material for 
many pretty toys. Staphylea might be mentioned as of 
secondary value. 

In the so-called Duck-plant and in Colutea we have some 
of the most enticing objects a kindergarten should possess. 
The former (Sutherlandia) v;ill do well only in warm climes, 
and in cold regions should be planted out under glass in all 
bf those places where a greenhouse can be added. Its hollow 
I a'uit-bags assume the shape of a veritable duck, bill and tail 
\ 1% 



and all, and set upon a dish with water, a child will find a 
toy which will keep it busy for many moments, if not hours. 
Colutea is a poor substitute for this attraction, but will do 
well outdoors in any climate. Its inflated fruit-bag can be 
made to burst with a loud report. 



FLOWKRING SHRUBS. 

The bloom of early spring is the most attractive bit of life 
with which we can brighten a child's days. The awakening of 
nature is eagerly watched for by young and old, and the 
earliest blossom is the dearest of any. If there be no other 
space to set out in green or color, the assembly of the Peach 
or Almond, the Lilac or Laburnum, the Cherry or Plum, and 
the Pussy-willow should always be found with the children. 
To them might be added the Snowball, and of ( -urrants, the 
golden or the purple. The Weigelia and Deutzia are of 
minor importance. So is also the Forsythia, though its 
golden shower of bloom before the foliage appears renders it 
an attractive object, suggesting its Chinese origin without 
offensiveness. A Cornelian Cherry (Cornus Mas) will find 
room where high shrubs are called for and where little light 
and attention can be given to them. I mention Chimonanthus, 
Halesia, Xanthoceras and Exochorda, as beautiful and good, 
also Calycanthus, the Soap Shrub, and the Mock Orange, 
Philadelphus. The Spiraeas and Brooms lead the way into 
warmer days, and there is so great a number of them that 
their selection must be left to the detail work of designing 

24 



any single kindergarten. The Tamarix, the rival of the 
Heather, is the daintiest flowering shrub for summer days and 
is very modest in expectation as to soil and care. Heathers 
are very charming for kindergartens. Diosma, Breath of 
Heaven, is a very good shrub in warm countries, and its 
sweet-scented foliage does not indicate that the roughest 
exposure will be gladly accepted by the plant. 

Shrubs with sub-tropical appearance are not needed to 
complete a kindergarten, yet, I mention those which permit 
of use and are attractive to the child. All dwarf Magnolias 
are objects of admiration for the young, especially the M. 
Soulangeana. An Aralia, be it A. spinosa or Japonica, is a 
wonder in itself as it spreads out its umbrella-shaped foliage 
with thin flower-stands in their midst. Catalpa and Paulownia 
are very noble trees but should be near the property-line or 
be put out as sidewalk trees. 

Shrubs with spines and thorns are to be established 
only where no injury can happen to the child. The 
Holly is dear to many and will fulfill the greatest of expecta- 
tion. Where its spines are feared, put out some of the 
evergreen Barberries, or perhaps a few of the thorny Haw- 
thorns, which, as well as the Barberries, furnish very bright 
stands of fruit. 

We should not leave the trees and shrubs without mention- 
ing a few which can find worthy application under excep- 
tional conditions. I have in mind the weeping varieties of 
trees, like Ash, Willow, Caragana, Cherry, Elm and Mulberry, 
any one of which might be used to shape the arbor at the 
entrance to our grounds. Also, two coniferous trees. 

26 



Of these a Christmas Spruce should have a free stand, 
though it would there assume dimensions which we cannot 
forever set aside in our space. But there is no need to 
retain such Spruce after it reaches a height of fifteen feet 
when it should be replaced by a young one. For the children 
to be able to decorate some kind of a Christmas tree in their 
own grounds is a delight with charms entirely its own, I 
mention here that these Spruces will suffer a great deal of 
abusive treatment, and, if space should not permit a better 
place, they may be planted where they will develop rather 
one-sided. The other coniferous tree is the Larch. We 
have to select far more deciduous plants than evergreen 
ones, partly because the latter would render the grounds too 
damp, partly on account of the charms with which the decid- 
uous shrubs surprise us when nature again dons its green 
dress. And at that very time the Larch is the brightest 
green shade tree we have. In the midst of winter its slender 
branches are as attractive as a string of beads. And these 
purplish cones forming already on young specimens, — is a 
baby's ear shaped more daintily? 

P>e I pass on to other plants of woody growth, 1 have to 
mention a list of those offering characters which are either 
meaningless to a child, or of such strange expression that, 
for such reason only, the child will pay attention to them. 

Foremost amongst them are the Fuchsias and the Lobster 
Claw (Clianthus and Erythrina). A child will make free to 
some extent with the former for the simple reason that it 
meets with those blooms wherever it beholds a garden. But 
there is chill about the flower which forbids the child to show 



affection toward it. This is truer yet with the oddly-shaped 
Lobster Claws. The little ones may select them on account 
of their bright color, but the build of the blossom is foreign 
to its sympathies. 

The Double Pseonies are meaningless to a child, while the 
single ones are good, but almost too large to be acceptable. 
The Hydrangeas, gorgeous as they are, mean very little to 
it. We may select a specimen of them to place as a show- 
piece near the door of our house; but the child v.ill look at 
the plant only with astonishment. So with the Snowball 
whose lifeless colored leaflets lack even the character 
of stamens. It may be taken for granted that flowers 
which are not visited by insects are objects of no interest 
to a child. 

The golden flowered Corchorus (Kerria) from China, the 
single as well as the double, are objects of curiosity, but 
we seek objects with which a child will make familiar. The 
same can be said about the Pomegranate with its shiny 
foliage and its gorgeous bloom. Abutilons are attractive 
enough, and the varieties of those many beautiful colorings 
from which we can select are tempting, but how much more 
charm does not a child derive from the Canterbury Bell? 

To shrubs like Jasmine, Heliotrope, and Lemon Verbena 
the unaffected child remains indifferent, and their strong- 
odors are no justification for associating their kind in our 
' grounds. 



27 



VINES AND CLIMBERS. 

The airy build of the trailing and climbing plants exerts a 
powerful influence over a child. It is true that all plants 
grow and show variation in height and vigor, but the 
additional equipment of tendrils and the winding character 
gives to the vines a heightened interest. The ascending of 
the Morning Glory, and the twisting of grasping leaves of 
the Clematis, do not need to be pointed out to the child. 
They speak for themselves. The care which these plants 
require in fastening their runners and rearranging what 
became twisted v/ill appeal to a child as the address of 
friends. Let a child observe now and then how such care 
has to be applied, and the little girl will make it a sacred 
duty to look out for some certain vines, and thus be educated 
for life's earnest duties. 

1 want to speak a word of warning about the careless set- 
ting out of climbers. I mention here, as at several other 
points, that the appointment of any grounds is work for a 
professional, and to him should be left the perfect arrange- 
ment of vines in the limited grounds. In none of the areas 
I deal with is there room for a Passion Vine. Yet, if its 
most peculiar flowers are considered needful to fascinate a 
child's attention, plant it at the entrance or at the outside 
fence. The same should be said about Tacsonias, either of 
which kinds succeed only in warm climes. It is not at all 
unlikely that in climes where the Cobaea scandens will grow, 
such vine would be picked out first of any as the best to 
clothe a wall or fence. I emphasize that its rapidity of trail- 

28 



ing is very entertaining, and that its mode of fastening is 
always plain to the investigating eye of a child. The flowers, 
also, are large and bold, and the changing from pale-green 
to purple is another feature to attract attention. But this 
vine should be grown only as an annual and never be per- 
mitted to chill or dirty any kindergarten with the enormity 
of its runners. 

Aristolochia, the Dutchman's Pipe, this noble leafed vine 
with its odd flowers, as well as all Tecomas and Bignonias, 
might well be placed against the house. Plants which are 
trained as vines yet are only spreading, thin wooded bushes, 
should be omitted in preference to the many other shrubs 
we have to select from. In this class belong Tecoma Ca- 
pensis. Plumbago, and the White Jasmine (J. officinale). 
Akebia quinata is so peculiar a vine, and its handsome fo- 
liage of such originality, that we should try to find a place 
for it where its evergreen character will not chill the spot, 
nor its spread interfere with the care which can be paid to it. 

I do not believe in setting out any single one of our 
garden Roses. Yet, there are a few Climbing Roses which 
deserve a place. The single Cherokee is foremost amongst 
them. Wichuraiana Roses are also worthy of a place, but 
of others which display nothing but a mass of color at time 
of bloom, I must maintain that our space is too limited to 
waste it by permitting uncalled for gorgeousness. The 
Wistaria is a very noble climber, and the higher we train it 
the better will it succeed and the more will it absorb the 
children's attention. Of Honeysuckles the deciduous variety 
is the only one suitable. Its profusion of flow'ers, its over- 

29 



powering odor and its handsome foliage, are the very 
characters which raised it to such importance in song and 
folk-lore. All Grapevines are desirable. Is the position ad- 
vantageous enough to permit the setting out of fruit-bearing 
varieties, so much the better. These vines should train high 
around the windows of the upper story. The Wild Grapevine, 
Vitis riparia, is so sweet in odor that it deserves a spot where 
cultivated kinds will not thrive. Their relations, the Vir- 
ginia Creeper, Ampelopsis quinquefolia, and the Boston Ivy, 
A. Veitchii, should be in every kindergarten. Both are 
handsome in foliage, both are glorious in the rich tints of 
autumn. And while the former has a depth of color which 
the latter does not display, the original way in which it 
attaches itself to the walls against which it is trained makes 
it an object which cannot be neglected. Our gardens are apt 
to face some building at one side or other. Against such this 
Boston Ivy should be planted to take care of itself. The 
higher area should be reserved for it exclusively, whereas in 
the lower, the climbing Ficus repens should find the spot 
which it will cover. It will succeed only in warmer climates, 
but there it forms a charming object because of its charac- 
teristic foliage, the mode in which this spreads out, and the 
unusual green which it shows, planted either in shade or in 
sunny exposure. 

Is it necessary to speak at length about the merits of 
the Clematis, and is it possible to give either variety the 
preference, large or small flowering kinds ? All of them 
are grand for our purpose ; all of them appeal to the 
child and lit fancies. The large flowering kinds have 

30 



faces as bright as stars, as warm as flowers, and their thin 
wood permits of general and plentiful setting out. The 
small flowering kinds, with their bushes and bouquets like 
orange blossoms, are a wonderful sight. Again, they are 
deciduous and can be placed where thick shade is needed 
during summer-time and dryness during the cool part of the 
year. And as their handsome runners permit cutting back 
and trimming just as fancy dictates, the stands of fluffy seed 
in fall are again an attraction for the child, equaled only by 
the Smoketree. If we set out some Hop-roots, let us be 
careful lest we overstock the place with the runners which 
are extremely dangerous in their spreading habit. Yet, the 
vines climb with rapidity and should be set out where little 
else will succeed, and their handsome fruit-stands are again 
the furnisher of many pleasant moments for our little ones. 
Jasminum nudiflorum is a much neglected climber but a very 
welcome one for our purposes. Could you find a more 
pleasant duty than to point out to your children the first 
bloom after winter has lost its severity ? No leaf is about 
and the greenish wood is barely an indication of life. But 
those showers of yellow bells, as they hang all over the 
runners, will be remembered by the child for its future life. 
Most of the annual vines should be given over to the toy- 
gardens of our little charges. Instance the Morning-glories. 
Could we add more description than their names indicate ? 
Let me say only that the teacher will find great pleasure 
and arouse renewed and lasting interest, if she will make 
selection of the difl:*erent colors and distribute the seed 
accordingly. Let some tots also have mixed seed and let 



each imagine what its crop will be like. Similar charm is 
offered by the Runners, the scarlet as well as the white. They 
have clear and solid colors and the crop of beans to be har- 
vested from them is the delight of the children. The little 
girl will find a meal to take to mother, while the boy may 
grow his supply of beans to trade for marbles when such 
pastime is in season. Nasturtiums are good anywhere and 
at all times. Neglect the running kinds in preference to the 
dwarf ones and take advantage of the many varieties which 
our seed firms now place upon the market. This vine more 
than any other invites the child's care to lay up seed for 
the coming season, and can we instil more noble ideas into 
its young mind than to encourage such traits in it ? 

Lophospermum scandens is a vine which will succeed in 
warm positions only, but there it is a revelation with its 
hundreds of flowers, each one of which, tucked away amongst 
woolly-fleeced foliage, likens a lion's throat. 

Ere I close the list of climbers, I have to mention a trailer 
which is small as well as pretty. The Kenilworth Ivy 
(Linaria Cymbalaria), Mother of Thousands. It should be 
set out in many places, and as often as the rough boy may 
destroy what the careful sister has set out, this grateful 
vine will again produce results from the small piece the 
intruder may have spared. 

Of fruit-bearing vines, the 

BERRIKS 

form a group by themselves, and are to play an important 
part in our kindergarten setting. The berries should be so 



distributed that they can produce ample crops, and such 
kinds should be selected which will assure regular returns. 
Select proper positions and arrange your grounds that the 
toy-gardens receive their supply of berries in preference to 
fences and boundaries, so that the little ones may claim 
proprietary rights in the many vines. Select of Blackberries 
and their hybrids those which bear freely while not growing 
too rankly. Raspberries and Currants must be represented 
as well as a few bushes of Gooseberries. 



THE PERENNIAL BORDER. 

This must furnish us the greatest diversity of bloom with 
the least amount of caretaking. There is no need whatever 
for any spot to be without a plant, and the ground under trees 
and along shrubbery should be amply furnished with a 
selection of herbaceous plants. A climate like that we enjoy 
in California should produce flowers from the first of the 
year to the last of December, and our eff'orts should be 
directed mainly to selecting those which will impress the 
child as marking distinct periods. Again, we may associate 
similar growth and bloom and harmonizing color-shades, and 
yet have a wide selection. But I lay the greatest stress 
upon the avoidance of all those plants which mean no more 
I to the child than a mass of color. Such effects confront us 
'm every garden, and while people are justified in grouping 
ind massing in places where home grounds have to rely upon 
a, wealth of color, in our limited area there must be no plant 

33 



which means color and color only. I have already objected 
to the Garden Roses and Hydrangeas and add now the great 
mass of Geraniums. Not one should be planted in our 
kindergartens unless it be a vari-colored foliaged one, varie- 
ties which usually lack in brightness of bloom. A bunch of 
flowers picked by the child as it passes along the beds — 
and, surely, we do not intend to punish our charges for such! 
— should attract the eye less than the thought. Plants 
which produce a sudden burst of color are excepted from 
such iron-clad rule. To them belong, for instance, the 
Gladiolus and Flags. Either of them is a stately plant and 
the glow of the coloring of the former specially gives the 
child a surprise which we cannot equal with other kinds. 

The greatest importance is placed by me upon those 
flowers which have faces, as it were. A child well notices 
the difference such blossoms display when they are held one 
way or another. And if he does not, are we not to develop him 
through association of characters which will shapen his 
mind and ideas? It is in days of after-years that he 
recalls the impressions he now receives while under our 
care. What is not understood, or realized, for years and 
years, the mere fact that it exerted a silent influence bears 
results no matter how irresponsive the mind appeared to be 
at the time it was subjected to this association. 

The Pansies take foremost rank amongst the flowers with 
faces. But a Pansy is not a Pansy by any means. It re- 
quires exactly as much care to raise a poor flower as the 
most noble of all, and it is our sacred duty that we raise 
nothing but the most perfect. The faces of Pansies are like 

34 



those of humanity : all of them are interesting, and while 
some are so exceptionally attractive as to call for universal 
notice, others display but few qualities to redeem them 
from the commonplace. Moreover, there are worse than 
commonplace faces amongst the Pansies. Some are so 
utterly vulgar that their appearance in any place is to be 
avoided, more especially with us, who are to select the in- 
viting, and pick from it the most appropriate only. Next 
to the Pansies come the handsome Violas, a strain so sweet 
and simple in their delicate tints that we may well place a 
large number of seedlings in care of our little gardeners. 
Then the single Violets. Perhaps some wonder that I ascribe 
a face to a Violet. But such it has, and its sincere features, 
its modest nobility, have Avon for it the admiration of poet 
and artist through all ages. Whenever you are in doubt how 
to fill a space here or there, put in a violet and remember 
that it flowers the better the of tener the little tots transplant 
it and the more bloom is picked off for bouquets. 

Of other f aced-flowers I mention the long list of all Pea-vines 
no matter of what description or sort. Be they Lathyrus, 
the Sweat Pea, or the grand spikes of the noble Lupines, 
they are all welcome in our garden. 

Another large family is formed by the Snapdragons and 
honey-storing Sedges. I class here the so-called Lionsmouth, 
Antirrhinums and Linarias, as well as Pentstemons and 
Mimulus of all kinds and almost any color. Remember, also, 
the common wayside weed Dead Nettle, Lamium album 
and purpureum, as they grow along hedges and pathways in 
the old country. No bloom has a richer supply of honey, and 

35 



what the bees do not take to satisfy their needs, the children 
will pluck and absorb. 

Leonotus Leonurus is one of the most stately herbs we 
could set out, and their whirls on gigantic stems attract 
through their odd color and their odd build. 

The glorious Foxgloves and the Monk's Hood (Aconite) 
have to be omitted on account of their poisonous qualities. 
The family of Larkspurs, so rich in blue or bright in scarlet 
(Delphinium nudicaule) should hang out their unusual colors 
in summertime when bloom begins to be scarce. 

Let us make sure lest we forget the Bleeding Heart. This 
shrub has attracted attention and absorbed the interest of 
young and old ever since the day of its introduction. With 
this plant the child should learn to appreciate the individual 
flower, and desist from plucking the long spray. Such can 
be accomplished by inducing the child to discover all the 
interesting parts which compose this flower. Our wild species 
of less showy, yet very similar, build should find room some- 
where. Their small rootstocks will produce an abundance of 
modest blooms in any out-of-the-way place we may assign to 
them. 

The Cyclamens and Dodecatheons are a child's treasure 
wherever it meets with them. The very name given to the 
latter in the region about here, ''Shooting Star" and 
"Johnny-jump-up," are so characteristic of a child's fancy 
that we may well know that in the early spring these flowers 
are picked by the children in great numbers. 

For sake of comparison I mention the Pelargoniums, or 
Lady Washingtons, as they are called in some parts. They 



belong to the class of flowers with faces. But their features 
appear painted and the mass of color is so profusely dis- 
played that every bloom loses its character as a flower. 
They must be avoided in our grounds. If the kindergartner's 
fancy takes more friendly to these flowers than mine does, let 
me ask her to set out those varieties only which show rich 
markings in deep contrast. I have in mind the deep-velvety 
maroon and red kinds which are sufficiently beautiful to 
redeem all of those vulgar magenta varieties which are so 
repulsively displayed in ever so many gardens. Our grounds 
are small and the number of plants from which we may select 
so great, that we can well afi'ord to let the children get 
acquainted with the Pelargoniums in other gardens than 
their own. 

All other flowers in our herbaceous border may be classed 
as mere ornaments, lacking personality. But the varieties 
from amongst them which deserve notice are legion, and it is 
difficult to enumerate the best only. 

The Hellebore, or Christmas Rose, is really beautiful only 
where the snow covers the ground in winter, and while we 
may grow it to satisfaction, we must forego its dearest friend- 
ship if we can not show the children how this ffower will 
come up through the snow. 

Of Primroses we cannot have too many. Let us select 
those only which are clear in color (Polyanthus) and well 
defined in their marking. The old-fashioned, sweetscented 
Cowslip should be represented, and the Primula acaulis 
should be found in the toy-garden of every child. These 
plants are kind enough to withstand all abusive care our 



little ones may bestow upon them. Liverwort, Hepatica, 
and Lungwort, Pulmonaria, are other kind messengers of 
spring. Forget-me-nots should be everywhere and those 
varieties which require more watering should be handed over 
to the busy hands about the toy-gardens. Likewise, Daisies 
may be left to all the abuse the little gardeners will afflict. 
Repeated handling seems to be appreciated by them, and it 
will be the very plant which may be looked after every other 
week to see whether it is making roots. 

Anemones in all their glory should furnish a great amount 
of variation in our border. While the herbaceous kinds 
flower late in summer, the bulbous varieties may readily be 
handed over to the little hands and a liberal supply be par- 
celed out to the toy-gardens. They are the very flowers 
which will amply repay with bloom, and that of such a color- 
ing as will swell the pride of the little nursery folks. 

The perennials furnish us a choice variety for summer- 
flowering plants. All the Sunflowers and Black-eyed Susans 
are stately and well endowed with bloom. Marguerites flower 
all the year round. The colored Pyrethrums in their many 
pleasing shades bring about variety and charm. The Michel- 
mas Daisies conclude the display of their kinds in fall. 
Some Dahlias, also, should be set out and the taking care 
through winter of their bulbs in cooler climes places further 
responsibility upon the little gardeners. The single blooms 
are the most appropriate in our gardens. 

The herbaceous Spiraeas and their relatives are all a sweet 
assembly and their graceful flowerstands are an attraction in 
any place. Spiraea filipendula is the queen of their kind and 

38 



S. Ulmaria the king. Gypsophila, Baby's Breath, is unique in 
its light, airy build. 

The stately rows of Hollj^hocks should find room where 
their majestic spires may display in the full sun, and both 
the single as well as the double are to be favored, giving the 
preference to the former. Perchance a Mullein should be 
thrown in to raise its golden bloom on velvety stalks. The 
rosette of foliage of the plant in the first year is an at- 
traction in itself and arouses great expectation for the 
season to come. The Canterbury Bells are another biennial, 
and their chimes will be repeated from many a little one's 
lips as it adds the sound to the handsome bell. Phlox, Pride 
of the Meadow, with its handsome heads of flowers and the 
agreeable perfume, should replace the gaudy Hydrangeas in 
our kindergarten. Columbines in all varieties are welcome 
to ample space in our limited area, and the more they spread 
and reach out their handsome flowers in natural array, the 
more welcome they should be for our selection. The yellow, 
red and white varieties are the most suitable, and buff and 
misty colors should be avoided. 

The Carnation family is an association from which we may 
take all those forms which remind us of the state they were 
in before cultivation and mast-culture distorted them. Hunt 
up the oldest single pink and the little carnation so sweet 
and so simple, with which every old-fashioned garden bor- 
ders its beds. Refuse to plant a double carnation. Their 
association favors ideas and conceptions which we fall into 
only too quickly when we grow up. The more double a pink, 
the less it is a pink. The wild Dianthus and Lychnis, the 



Red Robins and the Lychnis flos cuculi are good friends. So 
is Silene inflata, a plant which will be endeared to every 
child on account of the peculiarly inflated calyx. 

Out of all the multitude of perennials which could be 
mentioned with perhaps just as much justification as those I 
have listed, there are two which I place last in the list and 
first in importance. The St. John's Wort, Hypericum, is the 
most interesting of all summer flowers. Their liberal display 
of stamens makes them at once the handsomest and most in- 
viting of all blooms in color at that time of the year. They 
flower abundantly, need little care and their yellow is clear 
and rich. The other plant is the old, dear old Red Top 
Clover. The leaves are attractive as clover leaves are, and 
the stem builds itself firmly and stately, displaying the hand- 
some flower to wind and weather, to sun and clouds. A 
bouquet in itself, every single bloom is a store of sweet 
honey. This every child knows, you never need draw its at- 
tention to it. And is there a more interesting, a more 
idyllic picture in nature than to see the bee climb from 
bloom to bloom, gently nodding to and fro, and spend time 
over the rich harvest it is reaping ? 

Amongst the clover sow a few seeds of Anthyllis Vulne- 
raria and Ornithopus rativus, the Kidney Vetch and the 
Serradella. 



40 



BULBOUS PLANTS. 

Does it need more than the mere mentioning of Snowdrop 
and Daffodil, Anemone and Crocus to call to mind the sweet- 
est charms with which nature has endowed us? Flora has 
no other children alike beautiful, alike innocent, alike fleet- 
ing. They spring up like beloved children, grow sweet and 
charming and, as if they were too precious to be soiled 
through contact with the world, they pass to the homes 
whence they came. But with every new awakening of nature 
they return as dainty as ever, brightly arrayed in their 
heavenly robes of surpassing purity to renew their yet vivid 
impression from the season before. And are not these the 
flowers of the children? Why does a tot reach for the 
Snowdrop, why does it break the Fairy-maid, why is the 
Narcissus its companion, greeted as a friend as soon as 
beheld ? 

And if these are children of the spring-time which I have 
named, there are also grown up and developed members of 
the bulbous garden. Not all of them fade away like the 
Crocus, some ripen to womanhood and charm us as the sea- 
sons pass on. They are the Watsonias, the Gladiolus, the 
Tigridias, the Ixias, the Montbretias, and, grandest of all, the 
royal lineage of Lilies. Do not tell me they are too tender, 
too easily destroyed by a child's longing hands, so that 
they should be eliminated from our list. Emphatically no. 
The days have passed when we were satisfied to give our 
children the gutter and the sidewalk, the kindergarten with- 
out the garden. It is only a question of progress when we 



shall establish all through the land the kindergartens as I 
proclaim them, and in the most advanced of them, Lilies will 
array themselves to be loved and adored by those most fit to 
understand their heavenly build. 

There is no Narcissus growing with flowers of average size 
which is not a suitable object for our selection. The small 
flowering Roman or Italian Hyacinths do well and increase 
in size and number rapidly. Crocus of all description are 
welcome to display their golden or silvery cloth in our beds. 
Lilies of the Valley, with the most delightful odor of any 
petal opening, the Amaryllis with their leafless stems, the 
Crown Imperials with their leafy build, and the Trilliums 
with their oddest association of foliage and flower, — every 
one of them is suited and should be considered. Also the 
Dog-tooth-violets (Erythroniums), the Winter Aconite (Eran- 
this) with its large golden cup, the Anemones in thousand- 
fold glory, the Ranunculus in almost all hues of the rainbow, 
the peculiar Salomon's Seal: indeed, it is difficult to limit the 
enumeration. 

Of those flowering in later months, the Callas, Cyclamens, 
Watsonias, some Crocus, the Red-hot-poker plant (Tritoma) 
and especially the Tigridias are a noble lot of color and 
shape. The pretty Colchicums we will have to omit on ac- 
count of the injurious sap, but the large variety of Oxalis 
shall safely furnish us with bloom and brightness. 



42 



THE TOY-GARDEN. 

Each child should be induced to take interest in caring for 
a little garden patch of its own. My plans provide for them, 
and under the direction of the city-gardener and the super- 
vision of the kindergartner they may cultivate and sow and 
reap to their hearts' content. While all take part in the 
plants on the entire grounds, here, in the toy-garden, every 
one is supposed to apply its own little doctrines to the patch 
set aside for it. Naturally, most of the plants will be an- 
nuals and from them we should select quick growing and, if 
possible, showy kinds. The old-fashioned Strawflovvers, 
Everlastings, should receive a place of importance in this 
collection. The pretty Acroclinium, the bright .Calliopsis, 
the true Cornflower, the modest Mignonette, the slender 
Linums, the dainty Gilias, the fleshy Portulaca, the august 
Poppies, the showy Clarkias, the stately Godetia, the pom- 
pous Asters, the diffident Love-in-the-mist, and the gorgeous, 
openfaced Sunflower: they are all grateful objects for a 
child's gardening. 

I want to mention at this opportunity how attractive 
plants are to a child if their development ofl^ers special fea- 
tures which will be quickly noticed. Those which close 
their bloom every evening and again reopen in the morning 
are notable in this respect. The sweet Baby-blue-eyes (Ne- 
mophila) and the California Poppies (Eschscholtzia) belong 
to this class. It is not at all necessary that we draw the 
child's attention to these changing conditions. We will 
feel awkward enough by the time one or the other of our 

43 



pupils notices such conditions and asks us why they take 
place. We intend to educate the children through asso- 
ciation, and must refrain from spreading before them what 
little wisdom we older ones possess. That is the reason I 
do not propose planting such species as Touch-me-not (Im- 
patiens), or the Mimosa. 

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. 

It depends on the space at our disposal whether we can 
afford to endow each child with a little spot in which it 
may grow vegetables, or whether the kindergartner has to 
keep the different kinds of vegetables in distinct patches 
and let the children help to cultivate and harvest. Which- 
ever way may have to be pursued, the growing of vege- 
tables is of prime importance for the children under our 
charge. Let us recollect that every vacant lot in our cities 
could well be planted after the plans of Mayor Pingree, of 
Detroit, and here, in the kindergarten, is the place to be- 
gin the training of the future cultivators of such useful 
plots. Let us forbear, though, most carefully from trying 
to point to such work as being of any cash value. The 
children should not know the difference in price of one 
coin from the other while they are with us in these sacred 
grounds. But that spirit should be cultivated, — to grow 
something to receive returns. And these returns should 
become the child's property to do with as he or she likes. 
Do you doubt for a moment that the few potatoes will go 
into mother's kitchen? That the handful of beans must be 

44 



cooked for father on the coming Sunday? And what 
mother could be so poor that she would not be willing to 
season those potatoes with the best of butter, the beans 
with the richest of flavors, and embrace that child of hers 
with the fondest embrace? 

Almost all vegetables are suited for our garden. Potatoes, 
with proper selection of those ripening early, should be 
lined with rows of Horsebeans. Do not shrug the shoulder 
over their kind. There are thousands who appreciate them, 
and it is well that the edges of the patches should be turned 
into use with growth which will produce ere the main crop 
is ready. Radishes, Lettuce, Beets, Turnips, and Carrots all 
ripen easily and surely. Of Beans we have already runners 
planted as vines. Let us add Bush Beans, and teach the child 
how to pick them with the greatest of care, so that the crop 
will not be ruined after the first handling. Tomatoes may be 
set out after having been raised from seed under shelter. 
We also should have a few roots of Asparagus. It is a highly 
ornamental plant and the child should know how that vege- 
table is produced. Corn of the early kinds must find a 
place and kitchen herbs of all descriptions must have ample 
room. Imagine the pleasure of a child if it can supply the 
home regularly with all the Parsley for soup and dressing ! 
Also rows of Strawberries to pick and put between the 
smacking lips. They furnish a good way to train the child 
to arrest its longing hands and wait till the sun has ripened 
the berry, which, then, should be disposed of as the teacher 
decides. 



VARIOUS PLANTS. 

The grasses furnish unique effects and some of them 
should be used in our compositions. I have in mind the 
beautifully colored Ribbon-grass, the small - growing Bam- 
boos, the Snakegrass (Briza), the variegated Reed (Arundo) 
and some small kinds of New Zealand Flax (Phormium). 
The Pampas-grass must be left out. It is of dimensions un- 
suited for our grounds and its foliage is too sharp to be 
placed in contact with the little hands we have to protect. 

Of succulents we may put out some on the driest and 
hottest spot in our garden. Cactus with its dazzling flowers 
is well suited for show as well as to illustrate the peculiar- 
ities of its genus. Hen-and-Chickens (Sempervivums and 
Echeverias) should be set out in limited number. The chil- 
dren may be permitted to plant and replant them as often as 
they feel the necessity of doing so. They will outlive all the 
trials to which they are subjected. 

A half-barrel with water plants could well be sunk into 
the ground. A small growing Water-lily and a few Water- 
hyacinths will make their home in its boundaries. A Par- 
rotsfeather (Myriophyllum), will also live in such company 
and overreach the border in graceful runners. 

As the space for a small rockery can not be spared, we 
should select just two or three large boulders, so large that 
the children cannot shake them in their place. Set close to 
them a few Primroses, a Kenilworth Ivy and a few Saxi- 
fragas as well as Stone Crop (Sedum). It will suggest im- 
pressions which will grow with the child as it develops under 



new surroundings. Also a Money^vort, Lysimachia, in a 
damper spot should spread its regularly set leaves and un- 
fold its large, golden flowers. 

Plants with large foliage are a thing of necessity with our 
limited landscape. They suggest nobility of character and 
the wide space to which they are entitled impresses the 
child with a certain admiration. The most desirable plants 
of this class are the Rhubarb and the Artichoke, both of 
which show very noble flowers in due season. Also some 
Elephant's Ears (Caladium) and the classic Acanthus ; a Castor 
Bean plant and a few Cannas, carefully selected, should also 
be included. But let us take care lest we encourage an 
expanse of foliage which is as meaningless as the gorgeous 
coloring of some flowering plants. A Palm, stately and 
distant, is no friend within our walls. No bird would 
light on its fronds, even if they were covered with bird- 
seed. How much less should a child be insulted with a char- 
acter which is as foreign to it as an apple-blossom to the 
Malayan. It is neither costliness nor rarity which decides 
with us in our selection. No Dracana, no Camelia is en- 
titled to any consideration. The most humble blossom which 
furnishes food for the bee or invites the s\\aft humming-bird 
to a meal is far more important in our grounds than the 
most favored leaf from under a tropical sun. 

THE LAWN. 

The small patches of lawn which are laid out in our 
grounds are to provide the groundwork of green so essen- 

47 



tial to a cheering landscape. If they were to be used by 
the children at all time and entirely at their will, they would 
deteriorate in short order. The kindergartner has to place 
some restriction upon the use of them, for useful they must 
remain, even if they require renewing once a year. 

But I want to lay down a new rule for lawns in such 
places. In the first place use that kind of grass which 
proved to be the most resistant in your neighborhood, no 
matter whether such is considered the most fashionable or 
not. Let the lawn be green. In states like California I 
wish to see the White Clover brought to the front. It is idle 
for us to boast of blue-grass lawns when the keeping of them 
is the cause of more expense than the result justifies. Then 
again, the sheen of the blue-grass is less acceptable than the 
warm green of the cloverleaf. The blue-grass rejects the 
warmth through its glossy foliage. The white clover ab- 
sorbs the warmth, as it were, and stores it in unlimited 
quantity. There is no period of the season in which it looks 
yellowish and neglected. Some people object to the white 
and fragrant blossoms. But just in them I appreciate a 
character which no grass possesses. In our case they will 
furnish a new attraction for the children and invite them to 
play upon the ground. In fact, I would sow some Dandelion 
and many Daisies in my kindergarten lawns. If any person 
is in doubt whether such is the right thing to do, let him 
watch the children. It is for them that we adjust our im- 
provements and they are the judges and directors of our 
efllorts. 



OUR ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 

It would be unnatural to try and separate our children 
from animal life. And what could be more harmonious than 
their association? We older folks feel at all times called 
upon to subject children to instruction if not to correction. 
The association of child and animal excludes such and makes 
the former the king of the company, a cat even, to stran- 
gers the most perverse of domestic animals, will permit a 
child to almost squeeze it in two. A dog is the companion 
and full-fledged brother of the boy and the guardian and play- 
mate of the girl. Whoever has observed the companion- 
ship of a lamb and children will recollect how playful 
they were in a thousand pranks, never tiring the whole, long 
day. We, who are supposed to direct our children's ideas 
and lead their fancies, should select the proper companion- 
ship from amongst the animals. Let us then exclude en- 
tirely the dog from our grounds. Only too many of them 
are associated with our children in the streets, and no dog 
ever displayed the proper qualities of its kind when spoiled 
through contact with children. Neither has the cat any 
right to be with us. There is no child which does not enjoy 
its company at home or over at the neighbor's. But we have 
to install a lamb in our garden. Let it assume charge of 
the lawn-mowing and let it be fed regularly under the kin- 
dergartner's supervision. Let the children learn, in contact 
with all the animals which I mention, that it is unwise to 
feed them at all times of the day. The lamb may be led 
forth at certain hours and whichever little girl had her 



birthday last may have the privilege to decorate the lamb's 
neck with a new ribbon. 

Rabbits may be hutched with the lamb. Both will be on 
the ground floor and both permit friendly association. Above 
them the squirrels shall have their housing, and their caging 
and nest-building shall be in full view of the children. Guinea 
pigs can well be omitted from our collection. 

Of other animals let the following be represented. Gold- 
fish can be kept in a glass for years, and it is well for the 
children to be called in when the changing of the water 
takes place. A Turtle may be kept if the tub with water- 
plants is level with the ground. Lizards and Horned Toads 
should also be on hand. They do not require care nor feed- 
ing, and if only left alone will domesticate in a short time. 

Before I speak a good word for the last named animal which 
I propose housing with us, the Toad, an animal despised 
wherever spoken of, let me mention some facts which are 
known to everybody but not realized in their meaning. They 
go to prove a companionship the extension of which we 
ought to cultivate with religiousness. 

There actually are at this day of our civilization some 
animals which refuse to be scared when they behold us. I 
will mention a few well-known cases. The first is the Lady- 
bird. Whether it is that nobody harms the pretty insect, or 
whether it is that those who were harmed did not survive 
the ordeal to report to the others, it is a fact that they as- 
sociate with us wherever found. They will walk back and 
forth on our hand and take wing whenever they choose, no 
matter how much you may finger around them. Of birds I 

50 



know very little, being shortsighted and, therefore, denied 
the pleasure of having acquaintance with them. But I have 
experienced that flocks of Quail will come and live with us 
in the woods as soon as they have found out that we do not 
object to them. On an out-of-the-way place where I stayed 
for years no quail was ever shot at. Neither were they fed. 
In all of the surrounding country every little boy and every 
grown man carried a gun as often as time and fancy would 
permit, and even small birds fell their prey. This proves 
that the quail would live with us if we did not force it to 
leave us. 

Behold, also, the Sea-gull as she sails the air and leisurely 
follows the boats, indifi^erent to the noisiest crowd which may 
man them. Call them scavengers of the waters, if you like, 
but do not deny them their elegance and their stoicism. 
Does it not look as if they would light on your hand if out- 
stretched to welcome them? Their large and friendly eye is 
turned towards you and a grateful recognition is made in 
bow and flight for every particle thrown to them. I have 
never observed that anybody entertained an inclination to 
harm them, — and would they move if you forced them to? 

And now the word for my friend, the toad. This philoso- 
pher will live at our front door half buried under the pot of 
our most cherished house-plant, the Diogenes of the am- 
phibia. He will take care of his cave and love life like the 
happy artisan who sits at his steps and smokes a pipe in the 
fullest enjoyment of life. When the toad goes forth to hunt 
his living he picks up what annoys us and devours a great 
number of bothersome insects. I have made pets of toads 

\ 51 



for years and have fed them with bluebottles and bugs till 
they looked for their regular repast in regular places. 
Humanity with its vicious superstitions owes a great apology 
to this much abused animal, and it is for us to uproot the 
senseless persecution to which it has been exposed for ages 
past. Let us have a dozen toads in our kindergarten and let 
it be kept clean and neat through their habits of devouring 
the nasty worms and insects which accumulate, especially in 
a city lot. It is needless to state that the toad is anything 
but poisonous, and that it only needs our common sense to 
notice that he is colored in very harmonizing tints, and that 
his clear and bright pair of eyes are as pleasant to behold as 
those of a pet dog. 

A large cage for birds should be set up in every kinder- 
garten, and almost any bird is welcome to our care, pro- 
vided his captivity is not apparent to the beholder. Bird- 
fanciers may be able to properly extend my list of birds 
suitable for our purpose. I mention some and they will 
prove sufficient for almost all purposes. The Canary has 
been imbred and held captive for so many generations that 
its caging will be only natural. It should have an oppor- 
tunity to nest and raise broods. Doves, with their affection- 
ate cooing, shall be associated with us. They are of hand- 
somely colored plumage and always the picture of neatness 
and gentleness. Last, but not least, let us have a few Ban- 
tams in our enclosures. If space forbid a separate housing, 
they may go in the stalls with the lamb and rabbits. Their 
tiny forms and independent demeanor suit well with our 
composition, and the children will appreciate their company. 

52 



The gathering of eggs should be left to children by turns, 
also the feeding and watering under proper directions. At 
time of brooding Bantams are rather more fickle than other 
fowl, though only hens with exceptional dispositions permit 
interfering with themselves and their flocks. 

I wish to state distinctly that no parrot has any right to 
be within our grounds. Do not let us disturb the pleasant 
company we create with such rude intruders. 

CARE OF PLANTS AND GROUNDS. 

A city nursery will form part of every rightly composed 
community. It will be an adjunct to the park management 
of the larger municipalities and as such have charge of the 
sidewalk trees, boulevards, squares, playgrounds, and school- 
yards. The care of kindergarten grounds like these is the 
most simple thing for one trained for such work. A fore- 
man of the city nursery should have charge of all kinder- 
gartens. He could attend to twelve in the week's time 
and all extra work as the annual cleaning and shaping 
would be performed by garden laborers under his super- 
vision. The park nursery will provide all the material which 
is of the most simple and inexpensive kind. As often as 
a child has injured or destroyed any of our improvements, 
they are to be re-established and no other punishment than 
mere advice to be administered. Our improvements are for 
use, not for ornamentation alone, and those who take care 
of them are required to place the children in the fullest 
possession of them. 

53 



DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 



If a glance at the series of plates gives the impression 
that every one of them might as well be the appointment of 
an area surrounding a private home as that of a kindergar- 
ten, their objects are served. For that is the idea incor- 
porated in my booklet, that the proper setting for a home 
erected in the very midst of a busy city should be accom- 
plished. We build and lay out for a family, the only difference 
being that our family is rather numerous in the flock of 
children. Necessarily, the buildings have restricted dimen- 
sions and the area is divided into many playgrounds and run- 
ways, but, aside from that, no home-builder could suit the 
purpose of his family better than by adopting a plan on 
lines as here laid down. It is possible to develop a mind 
and neglect the bodily v/elfare of a child, but the reverse is 
not imaginable if grounds like ours furnish the field of ex- 
ercise for the forming body. 

In attempting to illustrate the proper planning of kinder- 
garten-grounds, I naturally fell into systematic lines. Every 
one of the plans accompanying this book relates to grounds 
of a level, or nearly level, area. This is unfortunate and, 
yet, unavoidable, as I want to address the largest circle of 
interested people, not merely professionals. I distinctly 
state that any slope to our grounds should be welcomed, and 
that such may reach fifteen feet on a fifty-foot lot, or twenty- 



five feet on a one-hundred-foot lot. In such cases the de- 
signs should guarantee an absolute originality, and every 
value in light and shade, in slope and rise, be put to fullest 
use. Such appointments would then add further worth and 
attraction for the benefit of our charges. For as we leave 
the level land and flee to the mountains to spend our vaca- 
tion, so will a child avoid the street and seek the gutter and 
the bank on the unimproved lot to enjoy its pastime. 

Originality in the designs as fitted to level areas must 
consist in the advantage which has been gained by over- 
coming obstacles and hindrances previously existing. I give 
five illustrations for kindergarten-grounds on lots of one- 
hundred-foot frontage — assuming in every instance that 
different conditions as to exposure and limitations through 
neighboring buildings exist. No matter how many kinder- 
garten-grounds may be established in any one community, 
no two of them should be identical in design. 

As properly chosen school grounds are of such extreme 
rarity that it is impossible to refer to them, I have been 
forced to confine my plans to areas separated from grounds 
used by older school-children. I wish to state, though, that 
concentration of school grounds would result in greater 
benefits in so far as we secure territory which is more open 
and impresses as more noble in its setting. Communities are 
slow to set aside the necessary grounds for breathing spots 
in our crowded cities, yet if all schools were set in entire 
blocks, surrounded by useful and pleasant grounds, a great 
problem of our economical conditions would be solved. 

58 



For the sake of comparison, I assume that every lot as 
illustrated is of a depth of one hundred and thirty-five feet, 
which is about the average we meet with in the modern city. 

KINDERGARTEN ON A TWENTY-FIVE- 
FOOT LOT. 

If such area be on an inside lot, it should not be improved 
for our purposes. If owned by the school department, it 
should be utilized as an income-bearing investment for pur- 
poses for which it may be suitable. Plate number one shows 
the improvement of a corner lot of such dimensions and 
demonstrates that it is possible to get proportionate returns 
from it. The improvements must be limited to a house 14 
by 50 feet, the necessary shelter — which may, at times, 
during pleasant weather, serve as an extra schoolroom — 
sandcourts, swings, and teeterboards. We find room for a 
spot of green and use the narrow strips along the property- 
line for toy-gardens. Playtoys, and other apparatus, as per- 
haps hammocks and the like, may find accommodation under 
the shelter. 

KINDERGARTEN ON A FIFTY-FOOT 
LOT. 

Here, as in the previous case, the lot should be on a cor- 
ner. Light and air are essential to our purposes if satis- 
faction is to follow our efforts. I illustrate three cases, the 
designs of which are conditioned by the location of the 



house. Air-wells can easily give light to the building if it 
has to be placed as is illustrated on plate number two. The 
grounds are all in front of the house, and the setting is 
ideal. The little lawn is halved by a pathway to admit run- 
ning about. Yet, the green swath will impress as a whole, 
no matter whence you look at it, as the pathway crosses 
your view instead of paralleling it. There is plenty of play- 
ground, the shelter serving as such as well as the area around 
the sandcourt, swings, and seesaws. On fifty-foot lots we 
find ourselves permitted to accommodate some of our animal 
friends, and place them where least interfering with the ap- 
paratus, so that the little sightseers will not be in danger of 
being injured while watching the animals. Many toy-gardens 
admit of a great variety of cultivation. One way of plant- 
ing this area is described in a subsequent paragraph. 

The other corner lot, plate number three, has its house 
removed to the middle of the area. The shelter is in the 
back so that cultivation and irrigation may be carried on 
where the soil is exposed. The lawn is an undivided oval of 
about 30 by 50 feet. The house, 18 by 50 feet with an L of 
10 by 18 feet, admits of a very pretty design. It is natural 
that the housing for the animals should be kept in the rear 
as much as possible so as to avoid attracting the crowd on 
the outside. We must also try not to bring them in direct 
touch with the playground apparatus, as the sightseeing and 
games should be kept separated. 

A look at the design for an inside fifty-foot lot, plate 
number four, shows at once the difficulty of putting such 
location to proper use. The neighboring houses are bound 



to crowd us, and if the shadow of a tall building or the in- 
fluence of a cold north wall should over-awe our improve- 
ment, it may as well be given up. A potato which sprouted, 
deprived of its full dues of air and light, may develop foli- 
age, but it will lack in tubers and flowers. Only then, when 
open grounds of liberal homes are at our right and left, 
should such ground as this be improved for a kindergarten. 
The house should then be placed forward, the playground 
and shelter be kept in the back part, and the growing and 
irrigating be done in front where the brightest light possible 
can be enjoyed. 

KINDERGARTEN ON A ONE-HUN- 
DRED-FOOT LOT. 

Grounds of such area are proper for a kindergarten. If 
larger they would form school grounds, if smaller they are 
only makeshifts. Our buildings can now stand unconnected, 
if so desired on account of the neighboring houses, and we 
still will have the necessary exposure. We are independent 
of the improvements of the adjoining properties, and no 
matter under what disadvantages we may find our holding, 
we can accommodate our needs. 

The corner lots are, naturally, the more valuable, and I 
illustrate four instances. In the first, plate number five, the 
house is in the middle of the grounds. It is wise to so place 
it if the neighboring lots are open in their improvements 
and are not apt to be built upon with high structures. The 
house here is 23 by 44 feet with an addition of 25 by 30 



feet. It offers ideal arrangement and permits separate en- 
trances to the schoolrooms and to the living apartments. 
In grounds like these we also have two entrances from the 
streets, provided the neighborhood is such that we have not 
more than the usual intermeddling to guard against. The 
patches of lawn are thrown in front. This serves a two- 
fold purpose: we secure more pleasing arrangement as seen 
from the street, and the playgrounds may be located more 
unobserved in the shelter of the building. The lawn is laid 
out in pieces to offer different grazing grounds for the lamb. 
The divers holdings give the children an opportunity to re- 
spect rights and to divide care. We have a commodious 
shelter, 25 by 42 feet, freely placed apparatus, various toy. 
gardens and runways galore. A may-pole is placed, and 
strips for toy-beds and vines are encircling the entire lot. 
It is indeed a paradise, the Garden of Eden realized. 

The next illustration, plate number six, finds our build- 
ing in the very rear. Neighboring structures with high 
walls conditioned such, and we spread our depth so as to fit 
snugly against it. The wide grounds are almost undivided 
and, for those who lay more stress upon a green lawn than 
upon separate gardens, this design must appeal with force. 
Shelter, toy-gardens, apparatus, and animals are arranged so 
as to divide the area as little as possible. While it is true 
that this partition gives the impression that a very large 
number of children can be accommodated, it must be re- 
membered that here it is more difficult to keep the classes 
and games separate, as will be required at times. 

The next illustration, plate number seven, offers the house 

62 



attached to one on the neighboring lot, selected thus be- 
cause free circulation and light had to be made possible 
from the other directions. If the house, 32 by 60 feet, 
should be found in need of extension, its upper structure 
could well overlap part of the shelter and more space be 
given to the inhabitants. The shelter, animals, and appa- 
ratus are kept in the corner, because a second building 
abutted at the rear of that lot and we have to keep that part 
as dry as possible. Lawns, toy-gardens, and apparatus find 
their accommodation according to the room left. This is a 
convenient arrangement and a picturesque setting of such 
grounds. A suitable manner of planting these grounds is 
described in a subsequent paragraph. 

Plate number eight deals with grounds which are harshly 
walled in by neighboring buildings. Good light comes only 
from the front and all the color of green and the desirable 
shrubbery is here located. The building, 28 by 60 feet with 
an L of 20 by 22 feet, abutts the adjoining building and 
springs well out into the grounds to benefit from fullest ex- 
posure. The low shelter is kept in the corner towards the 
street and the toy-garden against the property line where 
the reflex from the house on the next lot warms it. The 
animals occupy the corner ; seesaws, swings, and sandcourts 
are before these plots. Perfect dryness and circulation of 
air is secured in this part of the walled-in grounds. Two 
large pieces of lawn fill the foreground and give a rich set- 
ting to the building as seen from the street. 

The last design, plate number nine, shows an inside one- 
hundred-foot lot. We feel at once the necessity of reducing 



the area to be covered by the building and select a T-shaped 
ground plan for the house so as to secure the greatest pos- 
sible surface for light and air. The rear has to be kept dry 
and, consequently, warm, and aside from the shelter for 
animals and apparatus, we feel the need of setting aside a 
wide strip to keep our building warm and free. Lawns and 
toy-gardens are arranged to be under the least disadvantage 
from the neighbors' improvements, 

PLANTING OF A KINDERGARTEN ON 
A FIFTY-FOOT LOT. 

The planting refers to the design illustrated on plate 
number two. The west and south sides are towards the 
street. Those species set in [ ] alongside the other enumer- 
ated kinds refer to plants which can be substituted in cli- 
mates warm enough to winter the orange without protection. 

Sidewalk trees: Locust and Mountain Ash [Locust and 
Acacia retinoides]. Interchange the two trees mentioned, 
plant sixteen feet apart and remove which ever kind proves 
the least acceptable as years pass by. 

Arbor at entrance: Aristolochia and Scarlet Runners 
[Wistaria and Morning Glories]. 

Alongside of house: Stretch wire-netting against the 
house and train to it: Virginia Creeper, Clematis paniculata, 
Sweetwater Grape, Sweet Peas and Scarlet Runners [Akebia 
quinata, Tecoma grandiflora, Isabella Grape, Sweet Peas and 
Scarlet Runners]. Plant in the corner a Holly of the plain 
green-foliaged kind [Berberis Darwinii]. 



Near the animals train Flowering Quince against the wall. 

Vines at the shelter: Wistaria or Japanese Morning Glo- 
ries and Jasminum nudiflorum [Tecoma jasminoides and Lo- 
phospermum scandens]. 

Back of vegetable garden: Purple Hazel, Damson, Crab- 
apple, and, along the street. Scarlet Peach. [Purple Hazel, 
Double Almond, Plumbago Capensis, and, along the street, 
Tecoma Capensis]. 

Arrange the vegetable garden to suit the kindergartner's 
ideas. 

Along property-line on the south side: Quince or Medlar, 
Spirsea Thunbergii [Exochorda grandiflora], Forsythia For- 
tunei. 

Along property-line on the west: Laburnum, Lilac, Snow- 
berry, Colutea, Willow, Elder, Hawthorn, Briers, Heather 
[Purple Fringe, Philadelphus, Tamarix, Persimmon, Duck- 
plant, Hawthorn, Willow, Briers, Diosmaj. 

Bed beyond the arbor: Mulberries along the fence. Larch 
in the corner. Strawberries and Currants, etc. 

Bed near the house (north side) : Berries. 

Perennial Border: Antirrhinum, Lamium, Bleeding Heart, 
Helleborus (in cold climates only), Forget-me-not, Sunflow- 
ers, herbaceous Spirseas (for cool places only), Gypsophyla, 
Columbines, Flags, Red Clover, Larkspurs. 

Border along house : Pansies, Violas, Violets, Primroses, 
Pentstemon (clear colors only), Marguerites, Asters, Holly- 
hocks, Phlox, Hypericum. 

6-1 



Bulbous plants: Daffodils, Tigridias, Lilium album and 
tigrinum [pardalinum], Crown Imperials [Watsonias], Oxalis, 
Erythronium, Flags, Montbretias. At the house: Crocus, 
Snowdrops [Fairy Maids], Eranthis, Roman Hyacinths, Tritoma 
[Callas, Amaryllis Belladonna], Lilium longiflorum. 



PLANTING OF A KINDERGARTEN ON 
A ONE-HUNDRED-FOOT LOT. 

Refer to illustration on plate number seven. The north 
and the east side of the lot face the street. 

Sidewalk trees: Set out, alternating. Birch and Poplar 
[Tulip-tree and Hawthorn] and remove in later years which- 
ever kind gives the least satisfaction. 

Arbor at east entrance: Weeping Laburnum or Elm. 

Small bed next to arbor: Arundo Donax fol. var., Cannas, 
Tritoma, Gladiolus, Montbretias, Flags. Along barren space 
of fence train a Honeysuckle [an evergreen variety in warmer 
climate]. 

Plant Aralia, Ricinus and Elephant's Ear, underneath 
them Violets. 

In triangle at corner of lot: Willow (training it against 
the fence in long branches), purple Hazel, Prunus Pissardii 
and Golden Currant. At this strip along fence train single 
Cherokee Rose or R. Wichuraiana. Rosa Rugosa and Briers 
in corner against arbor on north side. To form arbor, plant 
slit-leaved Birch, if Birches are along the sidewalk; other- 
wise, select Weeping Ash. 



Back of toy-garden plot, along property-line plant: Spindle- 
tree, Soap-shrub, Golden Elder, Double Almond, Crab-apple, 
Colutea and Smoke-tree at corner where animals are housed. 
Against wall of house on next lot train flowering Quince and 
Boston Ivy [Ficus repens]. 

Along shelter and against house for animals train: Wis- 
taria, Virginia Creeper and Hop-roots. 

Vines and shrubs against house, beginning at corner of 
shelter: Jasminum nudiflorum, Riesling Grapevine, Cornel 
Cherry (at corner). Honeysuckle, Clematis and Scarlet Peach, 
Snowberries at the base. Little bed at front door: Magnolia 
Soulangeana and M. stellata, Xanthoceras [Plumbago Capen- 
sis]. Aristolochia, Tecoma grandiflora. Bridal-wreath, Paeonies, 
Barberries and Hypericums. 

Horseshoe-bed surrounding swings fill with all varieties of 
Berries. 

In the larger piece of lawn, ten feet from its edge, plant 
a Christmas Spruce opposite the seesaws and outer vegetable 
garden. 

Perennial border: Nasturtium, Flags, Single Pseonies, 
Gladiolus, Lupinus and Lathyrus, Antirrhinum, Mimulus, Dead 
Nettle, Leonotus, Bleeding-heart, Larkspurs, Primroses, 
Daisies, Hepatica (not for warm positions). Forget-me-nots, 
Marguerites, Anemones, Gypsophilas, Hollyhocks, Phlox, Can- 
terbury-bells, Carnations, Lychnis. 

Bulbous plants: Every space and spot not planted other- 
wise may be filled in with bulbs. 

The two large patches for vegetables admit of a varied 
display, and the wide strip from arbor on north side to the 



house for animals on the west side gives ample room for 
many little beds for toy-gardening. The division of these is 
a matter for the kindergartner to arrange. 



Glancing over the designs, as herewith illustrated, we may 
well exclaim: A child raised in such surroundings can 
develop as cheerful as the bird in the bush, as free as the 
king of the desert, as perfect as the tree on a mountain 
meadow. 



6S 



HIPS FROM A 
WAY-SIDE BRIER. 



Discrimination in what is to surround our children is worth 
volumes of teaching in later life. 



Enlist things living to help you raise your child. A ball 
while active is, yet, a ball from day to day. How different a 
plant! Its slow but constant development, in bloom this 
week, in seed the next, addresses the child in every change. 



The surroundings which we arrange about our kinder- 
gartens feed the mind, not the fancy. These gardens must 
offer the child an opportunity to develop. To look upon 
them primarily as a means for instruction is abusing their 
purpose and injuring the child. 



The eye of a child is the mouth through which the brain- 
food enters. It is for you to determine what pictures may 
pass its absorbing vision. 



Associate yourself with the best in the world, and you will 
have thousands of allies in your onward move. Oppose the 
good and every step you take will be a move backward. 

70 



Men are apt to err. A plant of nature tells its own story- 
uninfluenced, unvarnished. Therefore, leave out those pro- 
ductions of cultivation which, like some fellow creatures, 
smack of overculture and insincerity. 



Our first thoughts are true from within, our second in- 
fluenced from without. So with our periods of life — the 
genuineness of childhood is natural, the complexity of later 
years is an artificial product. 



The problem of a kindergarten is teaching through asso- 
ciation; that of after years association through teaching. 



What a strange age is this! We display our asylums and 
jails and hide away those few kindergartens which we suffer 
to vegetate. 

To raise a child is to live life over. 



The milk of love drawn through the nipple of common 
sense raises good kings, professors, and men-with-the-hoe. 



Insight in a child's nature is to be the birthright of the 
kindergartner. 

A masculine kindergartner — a goat for gardener. 

71 



There are two kindergartners who can succeed: the one 
because she has mastered all there is to be learned ; the other 
because she has learned nothing. 



A kindergartner — a sister of mercy of the holiest order. 



The child is like the traveler in foreign lands: each day 
opens new continents to his vision, each day brings vast dis- 
coveries to him and not till after his return home does he 
sift his observations. So should a child not enter upon the 
age of thought till it has become accustomed to scenes and 
changes and can rest its mind in quiet meditation. 



The merry brooklet as it passes dancing from rock to 
boulder, do you expect it to do more than furnish playground 
for the swift finny crowd, or a mirror for the golden faces 
of nodding flowers? Not till after it has gathered volume 
and settled down to a quiet stream do you think of harness- 
ing its power, and using its element to wet the thirsty gar- 
den. So the child. Give it healthful play and joyful pas- 
time, surrounded by the most cheering environment your 
mind can develop and your means can employ. As age adds 
to its strength and new fields are opening before it, it will 
become conscious of its enlarging abilities and seek employ- 
ment to accomplish the best in the widest influence possible. 



The smile of a child is a gleam from heaven. 

72 









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INDEX OF PLANT NAMES. 



PAGE. 

Abutilon 27 

Acacia 21 

Acanthus 47 

Aconitum 36 

Acroclinium 43 

Agoseris 16 

Akebia 29 

Alder (Alnus) 20 

Almond 24 

Amaryllis 42 

Ampelopsis 30 

Anemone 38, 41 

Anthyllis 40 

Antirrhinum 35 

Aralia 25 

Aristolochia 29 

Artichoke (Cynara) 47 

Arundo 46 

Ash (Fraxinus) ;. 25 

Asparagus 45 

Aspen (Populus tremiila) 20 

Aster 43 

Bald Cypress 21 

Bamboo 46 

Baby's Breath 39 

Baby-blue-eye 43 

Barberry (Berberis) 25 

Beet 45 

Bignonia (Trumpet Vine) 29 

Birch (Betula) 20 

Blackberry 33 

Black-eyed Susan 38 

Bleeding Heart (Dielythra) 36 

Blue Grass (Phleum pralense) ... 48 

Boston Ivy 30 

Breath-of -Heaven 25 

Brier Rose 23 

Briza 46 

Broom (Genista) 24 



PAGE. 

Bush Beans 45 

Buckeye (Hippocastanum) " 19 

Cactus 46 

California Poppy 43 

Calla 42 

Caladium 47 

Calliopsis 43 

Calyanthus (Soap or Spice Shrub) 24 

Camellia 47 

Canna (Indian Shot) 47 

Canterbury Bell (Campanula)..27, 39 

Caragana 25 

Carnation 39 

Carrot 45 

Castor Bean (Ricinus) 47 

Catalpa 25 

Cherokee Rose 29 

Cherry 21, 24, 25 

Chimonanthus 24 

Christmas Rose 36 

Christmas Spruce (Picea excelsa) 26 

Clarkia 43 

Clematis 28 

Clianthus 26 

Climbing Rose 29 

Cobjea 28 

Colchicum 42 

Columbine (Aquilegia) 39 

Colutea 23 

Corchorus 27 

Corn 45 

Cornelian Cherry (Cornus Mas).. 24 

Cornflower (Gentaurea Cyanus).. 43 

Cowslip (Primula vera) 37 

Grab Apple 21 

Crocus 41, 42 

Crown Imperial (Fritillaria) 42 

Currant 33 

" Golden (Ribes aureum)... 24 



PAGE. 

GurrantPurple(Ribes sanguineum) 24 

Cyclamen 36, 42 

Daffodil (Narcissus) 41 

Dahlia 38 

Daisy 38, 48 

Damson 21 

Dandelion (Leontodon Tarax- 
acum) 16, 48 

Dead Nettle 35 

Deu tzia 24 

Dianthus 39 

Diosma 25 

Dodecatheon 36 

Dog-tooth Violet 42 

Dracsena 47 

Duckplant 23 

Dutchman's Pipe 29 

Elder (Sambucus) 23 

Elephant's Ear 47 

Elm (Ulmus) 19, 25 

Eranthis 42 

Ery thrina 26 

Erythronium 46 

Escheveria 46 

Eschscholtzia 43 

Exochorda 24 

Fairy Maid (Leucojum vernum)... 41 

Filbert Nut (Corylus) 22 

Flags (Iris) 34 

Flowering Quince (Pyrus Japon- 

ica) 22 

Forget-me-not 38 

Forsythia 24 

Foxgloves (Digitalis) 36 

Fuchsia 26 

Gage 21 

Geranium 34 

Gilia., 43 

Gingko 21 

Gladiolus 34, 41 

Glycina (Wistaria) 29 

Godetia 43 



PAGE. 

Gooseberry S3 

Grapevines 30 

Gypsophila 39 

Halesia 24 

Hawthorn (Crataegus) 20 

Hazelbush (Corylus) 22 

Heather (Erica) 25 

Heliotrope 27 

Hellebore 36 

Hen-and-Chickens 46 

Hepatica 38 

Holly (Hex) 25 

Hollyhock (Althcea) 39 

Honeysuckle (Lonicera) 29 

Hoproot (Humulns) 31 

Horse-beans (Vicia Faba) 45 

Horse-chestnut (Hiipocastanum) 19 

Hyacinth 42 

Hydrangea (Hortensia)...27, 34, 39 

Flypericum 40 

Impatiens 44 

Ixia 41 

Jasminum 27, 29, 31 

Johny-jump-up 36 

Kenilworth Iw 32, 46 

Kerria ". 27 

Kidney Vetch 40 

Laburnum (Golden Chain) 24 

Lady Washington 36 

Lamium 35 

Larch (Larix) 21, 26 

Larkspur (Delphinium) 36 

Lathyrus 35 

Lemon Verbena (Aloyisia citri- 

odora) 27 

Leonotus 36 

Lettuce 45 

Lilac (Syringa) 24 

Lilium 41 

Lily-of-the- Valley (Convallaria).. 42 

Linaria 32, 35 

Linura 43 



74 



PAGE 

Lionsraouth 35 

Liverwort 38 

Lobster Claw 26 

Locust (Robinia) 20 

Lophospermum 32 

Love-in-the-Mist (Nigella) 43 

Lungwort 38 

Lupinus 35 

Lychnis 39, 40 

Lysimachia 47 

Magnolia 25 

Maidenhair Tree 21 

Maple (Acer) 19 

Marguerite (Chrysanthemum).... 38 

Medlar (Mespilus) 22 

Michelmas Daisy (Aster) 38 

Mignonette (Reseda) 43 

Mi mosa 44 

Mimulus 35 

Mock Orange (Philadelphus) 24 

Moneywort 47 

Monck's Hood 36 

Montbretia 41 

Morning Glory (Convolvolus 

major) 28 

Mother-of-Thousands 32 

Mountain Ash (Sorbus) 20 

Mulberry (Morus) 19, 25 

Mullein ( Verbascuni) 39 

Myriophyllum 46 

Narcissus 41 

Nasturtiums (Tropaolum) 32 

Nemophila 43 

New Zealand Flax 46 

Oak-leaved Ash (Sorbus) 20 

Ornithopus 40 

Oxalis 42 

Palm 47 

Pampas (Gynerium) 46 

Pansy 34 

Parrot's Feather 46 

Parsley 45 



PAGE. 

Passion Vine (Passiflora) 28 

Paulownia 25 

Peach 24 

Pea Vines (Papilionaceae) 35 

Pelargonium 36 

Pentastemon 35 

Peony (Pseonie) 27 

Persimmon (Diospyros) 22 

Phlox 39 

Phormium 46 

Plum 21, 24 

Plumbago 29 

Polyanthus 37 

Pomegranate (Punica) 27 

Poplar (Populus) 20 

Poppy (Papaver) 43 

Portulaca 43 

Potato 45 

Pride-of-the-Meadow 39 

Primrose 37, 46 

Primula 37 

Pulmonaria 38 

Purple Fringe (Rhus Cotinus).... 23 

Pussy Willow (Salix Caprea) 24 

Pyrethrum 38 

Quince 22 

Radish 45 

Ranunculus 42 

Raspberry 33 

Red-hot-poker Plant 42 

Red Robin 40 

Red-top Clover (Trifolium pur- 

pureum) 40 

Reed 46 

Rhubarb (Rheum) 47 

Ribbongrass (Phalaris arundin- 

acea picta) 46 

Rosa rugosa 23 

Roses 34 

Runners 32 

Salomon's Seal (Polygonatum)... 42 
Saxif raga 46 



75 



PAGE. 

Sedges (Salvia) 35 

Sedum 46 

Sempervivum 46 

Serradella 40 

Shooting Star 36 

Silene 40 

SmolieTree (Rhus Gotinus)...23, 31 

Snake Grass 46 

Snapdragon 35 

Snowball (Viburnum) 24, 27 

Snowberry (Symphoricarpos).... 23 

Snowdrop (Galanthus) 41 

Spindle Tree (.Elseagnus) 23 

Spiraea 24, 38 

Spruce (Picea) 25 

Staphylea 23 

St. John's Wort 40 

Stonecrop 46 

Strawberry 45 

Succulents 46 

Sunflower 38, 43 

Sutherlandia 23 

Sweet Pea (Lafchyrus odoratus).. 35 

Tacsonia 28 

Tamarix 25 



PAGE . 

Taxodium 21 

Tecorna 29 

Tigridia 41, 42 

Touch-me-not 44 

Trillium 42 

Tritoma 42 

TropEeolum (Nasturtium of gar- 
dens) 32 

Tulip Tree (Liriodendron) 19 

Turnip 45 

Violas 35 

Violets 35 

Virginian Creeper 30 

Vitis riparia 30 

Water Hyacinth (Eichornia) 46 

Water-lily 46 

Watsonia 41, 42 

Weigelia 24 

White Clover (Trifolium repens) 48 

Wichuraiana Rose 29 

Willow 24, 25 

Winter Aconite 42 

Wisteria (Glycine) 29 

Xanthoceras 24 




WHAT WOULD BE FAIR, 

MUST FIRST BE FIT.' 



GEO. HANSEN, 

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT. 

Advisory Architect to Park Commissions, Municipalities and Cemetery 
Associations. 



ADVICE, SKETCHES, DESIGNS, OR FULL 
WORKING PLANS FOR PRIVATE OR 
PUBLIC GROUNDS, SQUARES, 
CEMETERIES AND PARK SYSTEMS, 
DIVISION OF SUBURBAN PROPERTY 
WORK UNDERTAKEN IN ANY 
PART OF THE COUNTRY 



SCENIC TRACT, 



BERKELEY, CAL. 



L.O 



fC. 



CEO. HANSEN, 

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT, 
SCENIC TRACT, BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA. 
AUTHOR OF 

^be ©rcbiD 1f3PbnDg. 

Enumeration and classification of all Orchid Hybrids described (about 
3000). 334 pp., royal octavo. Price, by registered mail, $3.00. 

What some readers said: 

Mr. W. Bull, Chelsea, London: — "The amount of labor involved must 
have been enormous. Please accept my congratulations." 

Mr. C. C. Hurst, Hinckley, Leicestershire: — "An admirable work of 
reference * * * * a never failing help." 

Curator W. B. Latham, Botanic Garden, Edgbaston, Birmingham:— "I 
must congratulate you on being the first to attempt such a work." 

Mr. T. L. Mead, Oviedo, Florida: — "The catalogue part of your book 
is certainly a monumental work, and with the promised supplement will be 
simply invaluable and indispensable to every hybridizer who wishes to work 
intelligently." 

Mr. James R. Pitcher, Shorthills, N. J.:—" I found it of such absorb- 
ing interest, that I did not lay it down until I had finished reading the entire 
book. You prepared it with great care and correctness. * * * It 
should have a large sale when it becomes known that such a book is to be 
had. * * * The dedication of the book itself is a classic in its way.'' 

Mr. J. E. ROTHWELL, Brookline, N. Y.: — "I trust that you will keep 
up your work, as it is a valuable aid to us, and encourages painstaking and 
interest in the subject." 

Messrs. James Veitch & Son, Chelsea, London:— "We shall warmly 
recommend your book." 

Mr. Alex. Wright, South Norwood Hill, London: — "I have enjoyed 
the reading of it. Your classification may be a little too far in advance 
for some, but I think you are on the right road, and it must be adopted 
sooner or later. No one can, on reading your book, but admire the perse- 
verance and interest you have taken in your work." 

78 



DISTRIBUTOR OF 

EXSICCAT^E 

JFlora ot tbc Sequoia ©igantca IRcgion. 

Collected in the Counties of Amador, Calaveras and Alpine, California, 
at altitudes from 300 up to 9000 feet. 

Sets of about 1000 species. More than 30 Novitates. Price, $7.00 
per century. Desiderata to any amount or of any number. 

My Sets are Represented in 

United States— Shaw Bot. Gardens, St. Louis, Mo.; Leland Stanford 
Jr. University, California; Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plain, Mass.; 
Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, Gal.; Dr. Geo. T. Stevens, New York; 
Dr. John Hendley Barnhart, Tarrytown, N. Y.; Prof. Edw. L. Greene, 
Catholic University, Washington, D. C; Marcus E. Jones, Salt Lake City; 
Henry Eggert, East St. Louis, Ills. 

Germany — Kgl. Bot. Museum, Berlin; Kgl. Bot. Museum, Breslau; 
Prof. Haussknecht, Weimar; Kgl. Herbarium, Dresden. 

Switzerland — Herbier Boissier, Chambesy; Herbier Delessert, Geneve; 
Musee Cantonale, Lousanne. 

England — Royal Bot. Gardens, Kew; Museum of Natural History. 
South Kensington, London; Royal Bot. Garden, Edinburgh. 

France— Prof. E. Drake del Castillo, Paris; Museum d' Histoire 
Nauturelle, Paris. 

Austria — Kgl. Bot. Museum, Wien; Boehmische Universitait, Prag. 

Italy — Instituto Botanico Hanbury, Genoa. 

Russia — Imp. Bot. Gardens, St. Petersburg; Hort. Bot. Jurjevensis, 
Dorpat. 

Hungary — Prof. Richter Laos, Budapest. 

Holland — 's Rijks Herbarium, Leiden. 

East India — Royal Bot. Gard., Sibpur, Calcutta. 

79 



What some subscribers had to say about them: 

Prof. A. Batalin, Dir. Bot. Gard., St. Petersburg: — "I express my 
satisfaction with the excellent manner of preparation and state of preser- 
vation of your herbar collection." 

Miss A. Eastwood, Curator Herbarium, Academy of Sciences, San 
Francisco, Cal.: — ■" * * * they are perfectly satisfactory and indis- 
pensable to every Californian Herbarium." 

PaOF. Dr. K. Fritsch, Dir. Herbarium, K. K. Universitaet, Wien: — 
" Ihre Pflanzensendung ist sehr reichhaltig und hochinteressant. * * * Ich 
kann Ihre Pilunzea raehmend ervvaehnen." 

Prof. John Muir, Martinez, Cal.: — I find them satisfactory in every 
way; I never saw better specimens or any more neatly and carefully 
packed." 

Dr. George T. Stevens, New York: — "I have never seen anything 
like those specimens. The original green of the leaves and the fresh tints 
of the flowers make them look as though they were just taken from the 
field." 



AUTHO R OF 

• Mberc tbe Bio Zxcc6 <5vo\v. 

Description of the flora in the Sequoia Gigantea region, from the 
travels of a collector in the Sierra Nevada. 50 cents. 

Prof. Walter Deane, Cambridge, Mass.- — " I read it with much in- 
terest and profit. I enjoy your style, so difl^erent from most sketches of 
the sort." 

Arthur McEwen's Letter, San Francisco: — "It is one of the most 
delightful mixtures of sentiment and scholarship that could be written." 



80 



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